Ep 08 Rob Rizzo of The History Digger

Alright, guys. Welcome back to the Vanasore podcast. That's right. We do this every Thursday at 2 PM eastern here on Strange Palooza. We're all about exploring class B, RVs, Overlanding, and van life Ultra. Welcome back to the show. My guest today is Rob Rizzo, who is a coachman, Beyond owner, YouTuber, metal detectorist? You know, a lot of things. A lot of cool things. Hank, I I am so press because people call us metal detectors. Oh, okay.

You you somehow know the proper name a metal act to risk. Thank you. I've watched because I have watched that, BBC TV show. Awesome show. I love it. I'm such a fan. I don't know if they're still doing it. I think they had a couple seasons, but it was great. You know, I they did 3 seasons. We're talking about this British about these two guys that are buddies that are detectorists, metal detectors. And they did a they did a Christmas special this last year. Oh, okay. Yeah. You know what?

I need to go look that up. I can't remember if whether or not I saw that. Yeah. It's one of those things I'm not sure I think it's only available pay per view right now, but the guy who directed this series we're talking about his name is Mackenzie crook, and he's one of the 2 guys Mhmm. In the show. The skinny guy. Oh, okay. He's some pirates of the Caribbean. You got it. He was the guy whose eyeball was always falling out. Yeah. Yeah. The guy said, pump it. Oh, my pump. Very talented.

Yeah. We're getting way way, way, way deep into the weeds here. So let's, let's start out this way. So why don't you explain the folks out there tell them, you know, a little bit about yourself, who you are, how you came to be a class b guy, and specifically, owning a culture and beyond?

Well, okay. Let me tell you. It all started with that guy. I guess I gotta point way. So, me? Oh, really? Okay. So, I was I actually retired last April. And, oh gosh, about 6 months prior to that, don't ask me how or why the wife and I started to think, you know, we might, as part of retirement, want to buy an RV. Mhmm. And it it didn't take us long. We we kind of wanted something on the smaller sides. So they probably like many people, you know, watching this thing.

We hopped on the internet, and I started watching YouTube video and yours truly over here was one of the Oh, boy. Yeah. This is so embarrassing. Oh my gosh. And and, you know, hey, I don't know if you remember this or not. Okay? But there was a there was a video you and Nick Schmidt made. Okay? Currently after you bought yours. And Nick said, by the way, if anybody watching this Hank Strange video decides to buy a let me know, and I will buy you tickets to Walt Disney World.

Yes. Do you remember that? Yes. I do. Did you ever get did you get Disney tickets? Well, they've been promised, but I haven't. I do not have them yet. Oh, okay. Eventually, Eventually. Watching Nick. Yeah. We gotta catch up to Nick at the next, owner's meeting. Exactly. But, no, so we, you know, we looked around and, you know, started at the top of the funnel and looked at a variety of manufacturers, makes. And for, for several reasons, we quickly settled on Coachmen. Okay. And, and the beyond.

And then, and then it was a matter of, you know, which configuration and so on. So so we've been in the hashtag van life now for over a year. We've got about 25,000 miles. Wow. On, on our, coachman beyond. And That's pretty good. We benefited so much from some of those videos to us, you know, this, as strange as it sounds, we tell people sometimes. They say, well, you know, did you test drive the Beyond and other vehicles. And remember, this was, for us, this was during COVID. Right.

So there were no vehicles available to test drive. So we actually did all our research up front, and we bought this thing sight unseen. Oh, wow. Where are you guys based? So we live in Wisconsin. And we're between the cities of Milwaukee and Madison. And we did purchase from Sunshine State RV for a variety of reasons and couldn't be happier, couldn't be happier. So, as we speak, we're getting ready to just head out for a another 30 day trip. Okay. Cool. So you know what?

I mean, I'd like to talk about where you guys are going, but, maybe for the folks out there until we get some questions. And I encourage you guys to ask us questions. You know, we're we're happy to your questions here. If you're considering owning a class b, doesn't have to be from coachmen, doesn't have to be the Beyond. We'll be happy to answer in any way that we can. Doctor Dude says, laugh out loud. It's funny seeing Hank surprise. He's the reason that Bob got into it.

That is that's funny to me. You know, I mean, I guess I it's weird. Right? You know, doing like, doing what I do. I've done this for a long time. I've done the van thing for a couple of years. And I do meet people who tell me that, but I'm always it's it's always embarrassing thing to me, to be honest with you. It makes me, makes me a little uncomfortable.

And, also, because I feel so much responsibility And that's why I try to run the the channel the way that I do because I know that it's so much money. It's like a, you know, a big part of of folks out there that life savings to do this and get into it. So Oh my gosh. Isn't that the truth? And, you know, in some ways, I think that in some ways, it's like buying a car But in many ways, it's very different because, you know, you think about it. There there are some established dealers.

A lot more information. There, there are a lot more varieties of vans than there are autos you could buy. And so it can be daunting. And so I, I think what helped Amy and I, my wife, Amy and I, is Shout out to Amy. She's awesome. She is awesome. Thank you. Oh, you're welcome. But we we kind of learn from others.

We learn from Hank. We learn from other people watching videos, commenting that, you know, you have to a lot of things go into the purchase decision, one of which was what kind RV lifestyle do we want? You know, what kind of traveling style are we going to kind of drive to some place and park it for a couple of months? Are we gonna zip around? And, but all of that information on YouTube helped us figure out first, you know, what kind of, lifestyle and vehicle best suit our needs.

And then, yeah, we looked at we we shortened it down to a list of about 2 or 3 you know, right away, but, we would have been happy with some others, but we were real happy with the coach from Beyond. What else was on your list? I'm just here.

Looked at, Pleasure Way Okay. Up in Canada, you know, pretty pretty good marks on quality. We looked at, American Patriot. Okay. But, you know, I started out looking at manufacturers. And what I realized, I Hank, again, from one of your videos, or maybe maybe, Live small, go large, no. Yes. I'm getting there early on. Yeah. You got it. Scott's video. Yeah. You know, was almost better for us to decide what chassis we wanted first. Right.

Mhmm. You know, and and because at the time, I mean, there were even they're even they've kind of closed the gaps a little bit since then, but there were some huge differences. And, so once we decided and I actually thought I wanted a Mercedes. Okay. And then realized for us, the Ford Transit was a better fit. And then that led me to certain manufacturers and certain configurations. But I like the fact that the class B is, more nimble. It's more agile.

You can almost, travel in stealth mode a little bit. Mhmm. You know? Mhmm. And, we're, of course, we have, we have a adult children and grandchildren, but, they don't come with us necessarily on these drugs. Okay. Alright. Cool. Let me get to is a question here from Don Archer. So let's get to that. Dan, excuse me, Dan Archer. He says, when are you going to do a comparison between a coachman beyond, RB, rear bath, and a Truvado K, which is the better value and quality.

Okay. I think that's a good that's a good idea. We should probably do something like that. I've gotta figure out exactly, you know, the logistics of making that happen So I do I do a lot of stuff with Sunshine State RV, and they have to have both of those Hank there at the same time. So I will definitely, put that into the idea book. Do you have any thoughts on that, Rob? Yeah. It was interesting. We did. It's it's funny at first. We thought we wanted a Truvado.

And, you know, I mean, I'm open minded. We had a very good friend who bought 1 about a month before us. And again, it depends on who, who you're traveling how you're traveling with. He was a solo traveler. And for him, it worked better where the bath and so, so on was, but that travado was on a Ram chassis. And, and at the time, the Rams did not offer all the same safety features that the transit did. And it was a little some people would say underpowered.

Okay. But again, I think, you know, they change every year. I know, I know, Dodge up updated their chassis, but it that would doesn't surprise me he's looking at those 2, Hank. Yeah. I think they are they are good choices. Yeah, I, you know, I would say that the Ram is a little, you know, less horsepower and stuff like that than the beyond, but the Ram is still more horsepower than the spreader van.

There's, you know, now the Rams, front wheel drive and Sprinters used to be rear wheel drive unless you got by 4. Now, you can get either rear wheel drive or all wheel drive, which is good. Sure. So, you know, and And then the other thing I think with the Ram is it is a little bit smaller than the Beyond. It's also, I think, the widest one out of the 3 chassis. So for me, it came down to my legs are a little bit longer, and I've thought about actually, you know, getting, a Trivado.

I've, like, considered that even just as a YouTuber, I really love the the Beyond. I really, you know, I'm into the transit chassis, but I thought what? I need to go live with, a Ram chassis, let's say. Right? And I considered maybe I'll go get a you know, Trivado and see how that is.

But the leg room, I think, would just bother me because I like, driving long distance, and it's, actually, you know, relatively comfortable and easy to drive until you're going long distance and you're trying to figure out where to put your legs. Yeah. So He's and he he brings up the other good too about, like, now, which configuration inside. Mhmm. And, and this is there's no right or wrong, as you said. It's a matter of preference, but Yeah.

Big difference between, you know, the rear bath Mhmm. Versus the other configurations. You have multiple tanks. You have to Yeah. And be, of course, different locations I'll tell you one thing I was surprised at, Hank, that I didn't think about when I made my purchase, okay, is just like service ability. And, you know, I thought, well, you know, of course, there are gonna be more Ford dealerships than, for example, Mercedes.

Mhmm. But, you know, I quickly realized, you know, not every Ford dealership. And by the way, not every not every Mercedes dealership Mhmm. Has the the equipment, the lifts available to service these heavy vehicles. So I mean, I don't know if I would base my purchase decision solely on that, but, you know, you certainly want to understand. I mean, I have to drive a bit of a distance find a place for commercial Ford dealership Mhmm. That can raise my van to to rotate tires and so on.

Okay. So, you know, this is a really this is a really good comment. I knew we would not have any kind of issues coming up with stuff, and I do wanna answer is because I hear what you're saying from a lot of people. So here's a big thing about the service that I've to to realize.

If you are a Ford dealership, if you're, a Mercedes dealership and you're and you've got sprinters, even if you don't, if you're, if you're a Ram dealership, you're, you know, all of those dealerships are supposed to have the lifts to lift those vans. Here Now the reason why they say they don't have the lifts is because they don't want to do it. So I've been through I've been through that same thing with my van with Ford.

Let's say hearing, I live just outside of Gainesville, but, I've called up the Ford dealership, and either they'll want you to wait a long time. You have to actually leave the van there, or, some dealerships will say, oh, you know, we don't have the lift. And then there's a there's a dealership in a town, not far from me as well, called Chiefland kind of country type of area, very nice place. And those guys, you call them up. You could go in there the next day. They have the lift.

And when I talk to them, they say that's just something that these dealerships say because they don't want to deal with these vans. And I found that to be true in a lot of ways. It might, you know, I I I don't know. You know, you might be right from a dealership perspective, but I had, gosh, I was alarmed. You know, I'm in, I'm in a group, a Facebook group of similar coachman owners. Now, these could be Sprinters, fans on the ramp capacities in the or the transit.

And somebody went into a shop was not a Ford shop. Mhmm. And, their van was up on a lift. And They fell off. They came it kept off. Now, thank god, no one was hurt. And, again, that was not a dealership. That was probably a mom and pops thing. Yeah. But I don't, I don't know. But I can just tell you whether they're giving me a line or not. Mhmm. The, you know, just knowing, hey. Do I have some place in my vicinity be, okay, where I can get the service.

I didn't really think about that when I made my purchase. Yeah. It is a good it's it's a good point, and people can, remedy that before they buy by calling up the dealership and seeing what they say. Now what I'm I'm not telling folks this to tell the dealership. No. You could do this. If they don't wanna do it, don't take your don't take your van to them. That's my that's my personal opinion. If for whatever reason, don't want to deal with you.

There was an issue I had, and I had to go to the Gainesville dealership, and they're nice enough folks, but they there was all there was something that only they could fix. It was a real simple part of my, the big sliding door. And they made me wait there like, 3 or 4 hours over the time I really should Hank, because the guy working on it didn't like the fact that it was an RV.

And he was like, oh, well, to go in there and change that part on the door, I've gotta go through stuff that the builder made. And the service guy was telling me, I was like, okay. You guys want, I'll go back there and open that thing up myself just to make this go fast. Of course, they won't let you do that. But a lot of times, it just comes down to people's desire. And here's my thing. If you don't wanna work on something, I don't want you to do it either. So

point. And I I mean, most of the people watching this now or or later. I mean, they're on social media. So, I mean, my my my suggestion is take advantage of crowdsourcing your friends, regional people. Hey, where, where do you get your vehicle serviced, both in terms of the, the, the coach side? Yeah. But also the chassis side. I I'll just one other little interesting thing. We've been very pleased with this dealership I'm talking about, but I just took it in to have the oil changed.

And, Ford has this package called the Works package, where they do a general inspection, they also rotate your tires. And some of you may know the Strange has, the the Ford Transit Coachmen Transit has dually wheels on the back. Yep. Okay. You have four wheels on the back. And I left the dealership, got home, and just don't ask me why I happen to be looking at something on my rim. And the two step from the inside and the outside tire, they did not align. You know, they, they should line up.

So if you needed to inflate a tire or something. You, you can have access to it. When they rotated the tires, they did not rotate them back to the point where the the stems. Oh. Right? Interesting. Okay. So and, I mean Did you do a video did you do a video of this on your YouTube channel? I you did because I I would really actually like to see this now. Yes. I I have 2 videos coming. Okay. That's one.

Uh-huh. And I was gonna deal with this really high-tech topic of replacing your cabin air filter. Oh, okay. Okay. Which sounds simple, but is it? Yeah. No. My one of my highest it's one of the funniest things is, you know, the one of the it's always amazing what kind of videos get more than others, you know. Mhmm. And we did one video just on, the Ford the Ford Transit has this safety feature. Mhmm. Where if you rotate either one of the front speeds and start your vehicle.

You could you're in park, of course, right? Yep. This annoying chime goes off. Yeah. Mhmm. Because they think you're gonna drive the vehicle. Like that. Yeah. There are people who would do it. Yes. Not Saint Abrahamy watching this. Right. But, we we Hank some folks, hey. How did you turn this off? Did a little video on right, on YouTube, beyond the adventure. So I'll I'll try to, show that here. We've got a couple of minutes. If I can hit some comments and questions real quick.

Carla Daniels says, Lola, I received my shirt. Thank you. I will be wearing it at the Hershey Park RV show September 6 Hank you for me as well. Look, I'm wearing a Van Sore shirt. You can get that right here. Support us on the chat. All I know, selfish plug. And let's see if we can actually get to this one on the go with Greg Savage, gives us a a bunch of thumbs ups. Thank you. Everyone out there, smash those thumbs ups.

He says metal detectors used to be a bunch of old guys on the beach, but it has progressed into amazing genre, which I will learn as a future class b, class beer, I will be in to the adventure. G in that field has changed as well. But what I find it's for me, it's just a wonderful hobby that goes along, actually with the RV life because, you know, the RV takes you to a variety of places.

And what we really like to do often visit historic location, locations, beaches, and the metal detector I happen to use is, like, the one of the lightest, most portable on the market. And, you know, some may wonder, well, what do you, what do you do with this stuff you find? You know, we there's actually a service where people can cause I've lost my necklace, my ring.

So oftentimes we return things, you know, to people that lost them, or we give the things we find back to homeowners, or, we donated. I, I, got permission to metal detect at if any of you remember the little house on the prairie TVs series. Mhmm. This was the Laura Ingalls Wilder homestead up in have been Wisconsin, and Mike myself and my friends that detected the property, we recovered a bunch of really cold stuff that is from the Ingalls family that's now the museum up there.

So it's a it's a fun hobby. It fits, you know, it fits the RV life as well. Yeah. Very cool. Alright. We're gonna be right back. We're gonna take a you guys might have already heard Lola and myself are brand ambassadors for Sunshine State RV.

And as Vanosaurus, I wanna take this moment to encourage anyone who is in the market for a class b van to start their journey with SSRV. Sunshine State RVs specializes in selling class B vans and B plus RVs. That is the reason why they are the number one dealer in all of the state of Florida. Number 3 in the whole United States. SSRV will fly you right to their location in Gainesville, Florida.

They'll give you a very detailed and thorough walk through of your van, and they'll give you a 2 night stay at a local campground so you can get used to your van. If you don't like that, you can actually have hands free delivery anywhere in the United States of your RV. We bought our coachman biar from Sunshine State RV 2 years ago. And over the past 2 years, we've seen how they treat customers when it comes to warranty side. Their service team is great.

Whether you bought it from them or not, every person that comes in there gets the same service and care when it comes to warranty repairs. The same service, attention, and care. And their team does a great job getting you back on the road safely. So if you guys are in the market for a B or B plus van, consider Sunshine State RV, we've got a link in the description that you guys can use to see their current inventory and have someone get in touch with you. Alright. We are back.

Let me get to you you got that right at the end there, Rob, right at the end. On the counter.

I was like, oh. So, yeah, we're definitely gonna talk about, being a metal detectorist or, I know this is gonna be wrong. Is it therefore called metal detectoring? Metal detecting. Metal detecting. Yeah. There you go. Yeah. That would be the of the of the hobby. And, you know, like, like, anything, it could be it could be biking or whatever. There's a very active immunity many places have local clubs you can join. It can be a solitary thing you do, or you can do it with others.

There are are even metal detecting holidays. People organize trips to historic locations where you can go and have both a, you know, a normal vacation but also do some detecting of some pretty old historical properties as well.

Yeah. It's a very cool hobby, and it's interesting to see all the different things that, you know, people do with their I think you don't only do this with your van because you travel all over the world and do this, but, you know, I'm you also go out there with your van when you're just out. You know, anything that you guys are getting up to, I'm sure you're out there swinging a wand. Looking for stuff. I've seen you do it?

Yeah. In fact, you and I were at a rally this past year where aft after a re this rally in Florida, Amy and I left, and we drove up North Carolina, and we attended a 4 day event. Mhmm. You know, where we were metal detecting old cotton plantations, historic Mhmm. Farms, and, of course, we stayed in the Beyond, which, which we love. But, but I've also traveled overseas. I've been to England a few times. I'm heading back there again this fall.

But, you know, you don't have to do that kind of stuff. You can go to your local Park. The the laws vary all over the place in terms of I'm popping in I'm popping in some pictures of, things you found out there, by the way, since we're talking about it and we're it now. Right? So what what you're looking at here is a collection of fines from a 10 day trip I made to the town of Cool Chester, England. This happens to the oldest city in Britain.

So this is, you know, the area where the Vikings end ordered, Celtic tribes lived, the Romans traveled that area. This point in the middle with the cross is a 12127 9, silver hammered coin. Wow. And if and if any of you guys ever watched the movie brave heart. Mhmm. The English king who, fought William Walls since Scotland. He's on the other side of this.

His name was Edward Longshanks, but You you find a variety of things, many of which like these things are old, but you also can, you know, go to a park and find you know, just a ring to somebody dropped last week. This is actually really interesting right here. Perhaps as, you know, as as children, you might have heard pirates talk about in the movies, pieces of 8. Yes. Or, you know, we heard those songs 2 bit 4 bit, 6 bits a dollar. What they're talking about is, is what you see here.

Before we were even a and we minted our own coins, people would bring their coins from their native, homeland might be Spain, France, England, and they would score those coins, they would cut them and break them into bits Mhmm. Into pieces. And this is a 1721. It's 1 eighth, 1 one bit of a 17 21 Spanish real that I actually found on a cotton field in North Carolina. Yeah. That's really cool. Ed, you found old. Oh my gosh. And and this folks is not, normal.

People have been doing this for 30 years. I've never found a gold coin. This a gold hammered coin from 1604. It's the the it's a James the first coin. So the individual who finance the the people that landed in Jamestown, Virginia, that was James the first, and this was a coin that he minted. Okay. Yeah. That, I mean, that's really cool. And it's true you know, a long time before because we didn't have folding money. Right? We didn't have, bills and stuff like that in the beginning.

So you had to if you had to make Strange, You had to literally make Strange. Just break it off. Yeah. And and and tell you, not far from where you are on, like, down near Vero Beach. Mhmm. In that area, they, you know, they they often refer to that as the treasure coast.

Mhmm. There are, oh gosh, several sunken Spanish alliance that to this day, you know, after the hurricanes come in and stuff like that, people like me are out there on the beaches, and they still find Spanish coins from these chips were sunken in the 161700. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's real it's a really cool hobby, and I know you have a YouTube channel where you talk about this as well. Do you wanna, let the guys there know about that before we go on further stuff.

Mhmm. Sure. So if you can remember the history channel, the name of my channel is the history digger. Mhmm. And, oh, gosh, is probably channel's probably about three, four years old and, very similar to what you do, Hank. I mean, I have some instructional videos, but some are little snippets of my metal detecting adventures, and I donate all the profits from that channel to the wounded warriors project. Awesome. Awesome. Thanks for that. So, let's see.

Dan Archer had asked, is not the Beyond, rear bath of Ford Strange?

Yes. It is, Ford Transit. The best one. It's the one I own. So and especially if you're a big dude like me and you want to move around in your bathroom. But but Hank is couldn't buy the rear bath. Uh-huh. It's not a wheel. Okay. Mhmm. What would have been your second configuration, at least within the on. And I don't know if that's familiar about the other one. Yeah. I mean, there's a there's a there's some different ones. Okay. You've got the c and the the dual beds, the Yeah.

D, I Hank. I think is it the d that's the dual beds? Because that's similar to what I Hank, except there's a side bath. And then the c is a the sea, I think, is a side bath, but a bed in the back. Right. Yeah. With with a with a bed that goes up and down and, Yeah. What would have been your second choice? Oh, and so if we're in Strange, oh my gosh.

I think I would have probably gone for the sea then, you know, just that big bed back there, left it permanent, and then maybe just cuts because I think a lot of people do storage underneath that. I would have already done that if if I was just sticking to, transits. What's your what's yours? Yeah. Cause it because I think the Strange, the amount of storage Mhmm. Across those different configurations that you eventually get, it's different.

And of course, I didn't know that at the time, but I probably would have gone with the d Okay. Where you have the two beds, you know, going, going this way. But, you know, of course, the other thing, you know, you the storage is always what we were after. You know, how can we eke out some extra storage? We put Yeah. We put some boxes on the back the van and stuff like that. But, I would have kind of looked at all three of those a little differently.

I would have looked get them through the lens of which one gives you just a few more cubic feet of space Yeah. Within the gutters. I don't know. Yeah. It's it's interesting. So if I this doesn't exist, but I'm what I would love to see, and I so let me explain it this way. On the, the Galleria line, which is the Strange, right? My favorite is the 24a. I think it's called. And that's the one that has the permanent bed in the back, and it has, like, that storage, built in in the back. Right?

I think since the 24 a. I might be mixing those up. If you could get that in a beyond, that would be amazing to me. Like, permanent bed, storage they're there, I think. Side the side bath is so tough. I don't think I would, like, a side bath would be useful to me. And that's I I got lucky. I found the rare I I wanted a Strange, and I found it in a rare bath, and I think that's my favorite, unless we somehow figure out how to put something else. I don't know. Slide out bathroom, maybe.

Yeah. I was talking to another class b person, and we we were talking about and stuff. And, of course, for for us, a lot of our first videos were which van should we buy, you know, and then we we we bought 1. And how do how do I do this on that van? Mhmm. And and then there's a variety of videos of, you know, how do I modify my van and stuff? But also enjoy the videos that are more about RV life. Yeah. And you do you do these as well.

I like these, but, like, Here are some hacks we've developed while we're traveling. Here's an example, and we we've picked this up from somebody else, but we have an anytime fitness membership, you know, a gym membership, which, is wonderful.

And and occasionally, we actually use it to go and work out, but we really use it for the showers. Mhmm. I've heard this. I've heard a lot of people do, is it any time fitness? Anytime fitness and you know, you get a little fob that, you know, gives you entry to these facilities. They're open 20 fourseven, and they have very nice clean commerce in there. So, you know, regardless of whether your bath is in the back, the side, you know, whatever, you have limited water in those things.

And occasionally, you know, it's nice to take that long shower, right? Mhmm. It is. Oh. I like those videos as well where people are just sharing, you know, it's less about the vehicle. Mhmm. And, and more about the lifestyle too, which you so, you know, if you once you know, if I know people watching this. Some bought vehicles, some haven't. But pay attention to those other videos beyond just vehicle choices as well. Yeah. You have to think about how you're gonna live with the van.

Like, you I Hank you said that earlier. And for me, one of the things I have I've had Crohn's disease since I was about 24, 25 years old. So what that's done is that, you know, when I need to use that bathroom, need to use the bathroom. So, and I found myself, you know, really, appreciating the fact that I have a rare bath when I've been on a lone road somewhere where there's nothing but roll road for miles in front of me miles ahead of me, and I could use it.

But I do understand on the flip side of that, there's folks who don't even use that bathroom. They have they use hacks like you're saying with a gym, you know, there's truck stops. There's all kinds of things, that you can do. Lola and I recently got the Geyser. You know what that is? I do not. So it's this device that, boils water, or, well, you could put your you could there's 2 of them.

You can heat up your own water and put it in it, or it boils the water for you and gets it to the right temperature, and then you can use it to take a sponge bath. So you save water by using that, but you can still get, a nice sponge bath soap up and wash yourself off and all that washer here and everything. You can even use it to wash your dishes, and it helps you conserve water. As you mentioned, water is a big deal, when you're traveling in these things because you're limited in that. Right?

So Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I and that's where I really value social media we, before we, you think of all the things you need to equip your RV. And all the choices in terms of chairs and cough pots and filtration systems and so on. And it's there is no there's no one right thing of anything before talking to folks online really helped us find what was right for us that much faster. Yeah. Actually have the Geyser right here. That's why I was making noise. Check this out. Oh my gosh.

I haven't I haven't even opened it yet, but we recently bought it. So here's the sponge right here. This is the Strange, and so this will actually pump it out. This particular one heats the water and all that kind of stuff. It's not that big. So, I mean, you know, it's got a good size on it, but you can store it away. It's, so it's called Geyser, hot portable shower. Haven't used it yet.

We don't have any kind of, like, relationship with them or anything, but I wanted to check that out based on what you were talking about And and it it it it has a power source that heats up electrically? Yeah. Yeah. You can you can plug it into a battery pack or, whatever it is that you have. Yeah. Or if you have a if you have a different way, you can actually I mean, you you you'd have to power this anyway to pump the water out, but you know, everyone's got some different thing for power.

I love it. I'm looking forward to watching the video on that. We will Yeah. Sometimes depending on the type of trip, length trip, we'll travel with a, it is a solar shower. Okay. So it's it's a it's in it's basically like a vinyl bag that rolls up. Okay. It's about about this thick and it, and it unfolds, but fill it up, I think it holds, oh my gosh, 4 or 5 gallons of water, you hang it up during the day. And when you come back in the evening, you're going to hang it on a tree at your amps.

I maybe even on the outside of the van, but it's quite warm. And it's all gravity fed, but, you know, if anybody camps, they'll know what I'm talking about. You could find these in any camping store, but it's it's something if you're doing some remote camping wall occasionally take with us. Yeah. So something like this, right, one of these. Exactly. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good idea. You know, there's so many different things that you can do to make this happen.

So, yeah, I agree with you on that checkout. Look at not just my stuff, but, you know, please do look at my stuff. But there's lots of folks out there doing things, including, you know, Rob himself is, doing videos. So, you know, that's the thing to do before you get into this. Look at what everyone else is doing and then ask yourself, okay. Am I good with that or do I wanna do? You know, do I wanna do something else? And sometimes you'll surprise yourself.

You'll think you'll never do that thing, but when you come to realize the convenience of a van, but, hey, I might have to make this compromise over here. You actually get used to it, and you're fine. Yeah. So, yeah. Yeah. And we're we're still learning. We're picking up tips and tricks. We travel with a little portable gazebo that we store in in the, entry the side entry door of the transit has 2 handles.

Mhmm. And we strap this it's one of these pop up, you know, little gazebos that you can get some refuge in if there's too much sun, it's raining, whatever. But we store one of these things. We wrap it to the side of the van. It works fine. However, occasionally, there's some wind, and this thing comes with, you know, the typical stakes that you pound into the ground and we Hank particularly windy storm one time where this thing went properly.

And our good friends, Gary and Renee Dunn, turned us on to the there are these very small you can buy. They're very thick, durable. They almost look like the solar showers, quite frankly. Okay. But you fill you fill them up with water and essentially they're Hank checks. Oh, okay. Makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. And you fell crow these to the the pools of whatever, the gazebo you're on in whatever you're doing. But but they're very you know, you have to do the water out. Yeah. Easy to store.

Yeah. Just basically water weights. That's a good idea. Yeah. Let's get on to some comments here. Let's see, on the go with with Greg Savage says, indeed, if it wasn't for Hank, and Nick, and their eloquent and professionalism. There'll be a lot of unanswered questions. They have helped my choice to sell everything about from Nick, my next home. Okay. Cool. Congratulations. He goes on to say, yes, I retired from 30 years in motorsports business, and I can't wait to get started.

Oh, the soft suit. That sounds like fun. Maybe I'll meet you down there at Sunshine State RV sometime. And until you do, you can pull it forward by watching all these fun videos and so on. And, and, I'll tell you, Nick and his crew are as they're exactly the way team on these videos. They're genuine authentic people. We had a wonderful experience there. Yeah. So, you know, that leads me to a good question because, when Nick is on, ask about service. Right? And I agree with you.

I think Sunshine State RV, good place to go get service. Now you've been out there on the road. You've put twenty five thousand miles on your Hank, have you ever run into a situation when you're out on the road? Let's say you can't get to Sunshine State RV, and you need it to get service from somewhere else? You know, actually, I'm pleased to say we've not I've had a minor issue with the Ford. Mhmm. Okay. Which which Sunshine State really doesn't do sports stuff.

Mhmm. But we've not had anything like urgent. Oh my gosh. I need to find a place. The only thing we have done other than Sunshine State, which, you know, we go to Florida every Strange, and, and I had him do a checkup and stuff like that. We we did visit the Coachmen facility, and you you do have to schedule appointments there, you know, well on advance. They have they have phenomenal service but limited. And, we had a very minor issue with a solar panel wire that was faulty.

But, knock on wood Hank, we've not had to, but I'm worried about it because I've heard, you know, horror story galore. People won't serve as fans. If you didn't buy there, that kind of a thing. We haven't had to deal with anything yet. Yeah. You know, I haven't had anything happen so bad that I couldn't, you know, that I immediately had to do it myself either. So, yeah, knock on wood, knock on the, there you go. Well, and and and I'll say one of the things that to people. Mhmm. It sure can.

And, I mean, as good as sunshine state is, what I also didn't appreciate, but I would consider now, if I were buying, okay, is the crowds or support. What what I'm talking about, whether it's, Truvado, a a nish dealer, whatever, as to these people, you know, kind of support group do you have? If I have an issue, can I find someone like me that has my van? Because I'm going to tell you I've done this. I see people just post and Oh my gosh. Yeah. You know, this light's blinking on my firefly.

I don't know what it means. And within minutes, there are answers on, you know, so Coachmen, and the Beyond has a very active positive, friendly community of users who help one another. I don't know if that's the same with other folks because I didn't about that at the time I was buying, definitely something I would think about. No. Yeah. Search out those Facebook groups or groups any, you know, whatever social media you use. I think the better ones are probably on Facebook at this point.

There is one for the coachmen beyond, but there's, you know, I think there's one for Galleria for Big Trevato. Yeah. For Trevato, or any class b van that you have that folks have should be, you you know, you should be able to find a user's group for that. Let's see. We got may less than a minute here. Shout out to Russ. Russ Johnson's out there, our buddy. He says Fellow was down tonight. Yes. There you go. He's awesome.

Russ says Rob really liked the video on your installation of a rearview mirror camera. 30 seconds, Rob, and then we'll we'll take a break. Okay. You know, the stock cameras that come with the transits and other vehicles, they're they're very poor long distance. I installed 1. It's essentially an LED screen, dynamically towards 3 hours of video from the front and the back. My, my favorite modification I've ever done, I love it. There you go. I agree with that. It's, cameras are very necessary.

It'd be great to see more of this stuff come with the vans. Hopefully, that happens.

We're taking a break. Lola and I are now a official brand ambassadors for Coachmen class b. So I wanted to take a moment to tell you guys why we, as Vanosaurus, like it says on our t shirt, a very excited about our partnership with Coachmen Class B. First off, Coachmen RVs has been a leader to the great outdoors since 1964. So next is the fact that Coachmen really cares about you as an owner, whether you bought new or used after you buy your van, they really take care of you.

With Coachmen Klosbee, you have all the options. Coachmen bills on all three van platforms. On the Mercedes Strange, it's a coachman Galleria. The Ford Transit is a coachman Beyond, and Ram Pro Master is a coachman Nova. Lastly, best value for money.

We've had our van for 2 years and coachman bills to the highest standards of quality and craftsman You can't go wrong with a coachman class b. So if you're interested, check out the link in our description and find the coachman van that's best for you. There you go. We are back. And, I think I'm gonna skip ahead. Lola, okay. Lola says Ross Johnson. Hi, Ross. Give Gina a hug for me. So there you go. And, I think Lola says she asked a question here. Oh, here we go.

Lola says, has Rob done any mods on his beyond? I know Amy and him have those big ebike you just spoke about the rearview mirror mod. So, any other mods that you've done you you wanna discuss?

Yes. So, okay. So a couple other ones we've we've added in outlets. I've added a ladder prime design ladder on my back and attached to that is a plastic, happens to be a Plano gun case that we use to store our electrical cable, our water hoses, freeze up a couple cubic feet of space underneath the van. And also, you know, when we do pull into a site, it, it, you know, it allows us to, to not open our our back doors to get the bugs in and so on. We love believe it or not.

So I mean, I travel with a metal detector. Amy is a quilter and seamstress. She travels with a sewing machine. Okay. Nice. Where does that go? Well, So speaking of that mod, so we add, you know, I think one of the most, modified things, but but people find them in different ways on the coachman's, is this space behind the driver's seat? Oh, yeah. Some people some people put I think Russ might have put it, a water, an extra water tank there, a third piece.

No. He put that on the other side, but I think a lot He did. I think he you're talking about between the and the bathroom. People won't close it. This is near Yeah. His is near the side door, but I Hank a behind the driver's seat, and we've seen little loggy beds put there. But I have built some shelving back there Mhmm. Within which Amy slides her sewing machine. And on top of that is where I store all my metal detecting. Equipment.

We have a shelf in the back of the van that allows us to store things. This is behind the bed area. That. Did you feature did you feature your van in that video we did? I know you were in that video, and I'm trying to because we showed of vans. And I don't know if we showed this or not for the folks who are out there. I we may have. I think it was in an older one, and, you know, some of these things are really simple like seat covers for a cushion behind your neck.

Yeah. I think you were talking about the bicycle racks in the video we did. Yeah. The bicycle so we have 2 Radrunner ebikes. And if you're, you know, ebikes are evolving, significantly. But some of the early ones, and even still today, they can be quite heavy. So a normal bike rack may not be able to support the load of 2 ebikes. So we searched all over.

We found a wonderful product, company, called Rack Attach by OneUp that offers a swing away bracket both swings away from the back of the van and tilts down and can easily support the weight of our 2 bike in a very secure way. So I I would say that was an accessory, less, more of an accessory than a modification, you know, that we've done. But it's it's been fun. I mean, and then a whole host of other little things, you know, little things, baskets.

And I had one family members say, Well, were you a little disappointed that, you know, you had to do all this work and as, at these modifications? And I I said, well, actually, no, I kind of appreciate the opportunity to make it my own and customize this stuff. Other people might feel differently, but I've actually enjoyed the ability to tweak this a little bit, and I appreciate Coachmen leaving some of that for me do. I, you know, I actually enjoy that. Yeah. I would agree with you.

You know, it would be great if someone could custom build exactly what you want, which they can. It just might cost you about a 100,000 bucks more to get that. Correct. And it's, you know, in ways, think of it like a, a, I don't know if any, you know, people here have built homes, but, you know, oftentimes, there's, there's a plan. And then you get to kind of finish it the way you want. Yeah. But, but yeah, those are those have been some of the minor things, and we've Oh gosh.

We've changed out shower nozzle. We've added a different shower curtain. Minor stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah. We've done we've done a lot of, of modifications. And I and I agree with you. I think that, you know, like I was saying, the big thing for me here is the rare bath. So, yes, there's other things that I wish were somehow better, but I adapt to that and and, you know, in the beyonds, there's 3 models.

So they there's no way they're gonna make it perfect for everyone, but if you find the basic, the homes of that works for you, then you could figure out ways to add all the different things that you want to. What I'm searching for here that I'm trying to pull up is, some pictures, just just recently of stuff that we've outside the van. I think I've talked about this before, but I'll share this with you guys. So, for example, if you wanna change the way that you van looks even.

This is something that I've done lately. You know, we we, vinyl wrapped our van. So this is our van here. It's vinyl wrapped. And then recently, I even put the, the Raptor grill on it. You know, and that's not something that you want every single van to come that way because you want to dualize and personalize that that advance your taste so that, you know, you're you're you're different from what everyone else is out there. Right?

There's one little minor thing we did that I absolutely loved, and it's a, it's a small, aluminum piece put on your door trap that allows you. You know what I'm talking about here, Hank. So instead of Mhmm. Yeah. You don't, you know, instead of only opening the door all all the way you can stop halfway. And it's just a little, little thing that, you, you put on with some adhesive and stuff like that, that, I absolutely love, but I will say this, let me just say full disclosure.

I have no release relationship whatsoever with Coachmen. Mhmm. But, as after we did all our research, I would say the other thing that I saw, the general manager of Coachmen, if you're not familiar with them, Nick Rekio, this guy is fanatical about understanding his consumer, about understanding the people that buy his vehicle and he constantly, on these videos, was listening and looking for modifications to add in that next thing.

So on one hand, while I appreciate having the all your tweak and customize some things. Every year, they have made changes. And, I I come from the consumer products industry. So I really appreciated somebody who really listened and cared about the customers. And, my only regret is every time he, you know, launches his new vehicle, I I wanna trade in my old 1 and buy it. Yes. Except in interest rates are high now. So I and I don't need any more tickets to Disney World.

Yeah. You gotta get your first tickets for 1st. And and if I remember correctly, Rob, I was also supposed to get tickets and go to Disney World with you. Whits. Yeah. Yes. We're gonna have to make that happen. Well, listen. I'll tell you one thing about Nick Schmidt. He does stick to, you know, to to promises that he makes, but it gets so crazy see. He gets into so much stuff, but we we'll probably make that, thing happen. I'll, I'll, yeah, I'll nudge him. I'll remind him.

Here's a here's a comment from Kip get this in here, a question. We are strongly considering ordering a 2024 coach from Beyond with the upgraded 1200 amp hour lithium with over 25 1000 miles, you have driven. Have you had any issues with your batteries? Well, you I know you have a different battery solution than me. Do you wanna go first? Or Oh, you can go for you're li you're li you're li3. Right? Yeah. So I'm gonna tell you.

I respect there are some people that are happy with the AGM and the generator everything. But I love the lithium batteries because first of all, we can get a whole night's air conditioning, you know, out of our configuration. And, if, you know, that next day, our battery is running low, you know, I either I just Hank to, you know, turn on that vehicle and, you know, let it idle for a while, and it will recharge. Or chances are we're moving anyways.

And with, you know, with just a little bit of time on the road, that thing is recharged. Okay? So I, I love all that, plus I love the fact that, in Wisconsin, okay, during the winter months, if if the band is here, I can put this into a store mode, let it sit for 90 days. I've had no issues. I've had no issues with it. It has a really cool battery management system. Mhmm. But also, if it hits a certain temperature, sure it knows to shut itself off and talking about when you're charging it.

Mhmm. So I I just have to say on and, and, and I'll just say one other thing, out of all the things I see and read, you know, that maybe people have had issues with. You know, a fire issue or an air conditioning issue. I don't know if I've ever even seen on the social media group. I mean, anybody have an issue with the lithium battery that comes with the Beyond van I'm sure there have been somebody, but I don't Absolutely.

Yeah. I think there have been, you know, in all the vans that are going out there, I think with the Onyx is pretty robust. Cost. We did a, a tour with Lithionics there at the factory, and, I think it's a it's a really good set up. In in my van, I bought it. It had AGMs. It had a generator. I kind of like that. However, what I would say and and, you know, I did change them out. So I don't have those AGMs. I actually have Battle Born batteries in there.

We've had Battle Born here in the show as well. I think those are great batteries. When you're doing upgrades, I think actually come standard with the American Coach fans that are out there, the Battle of Orange system. And I find that easy use. Same thing with Lithonics. I think when I look at, like, someone was asking about, Trevado, some of us the other battery system are I'm not saying they're any less good.

It's just they work in a different way, and I like the way that Battleborn lives theonix, those things work. If if I was to buy another van right now, I would not go AGM with generator. I'll tell you the tell you guys that right now. I would just go li3, have my batteries be in there with the second alternator. Like you said, it charges up faster, and it's a lot easier to deal with. The generator is cool right now. I'm in my van.

I'm actually running the generator, but, you know, there's more issues with a generator if you get I Hank, and you have to make sure you've got the maintenance going on and all that kind of stuff. So I would just go li3 like you have. You you don't have to maintain it. It's it's and, again, lack of noise. I do have extra space I've contemplated adding the extra panel, but quite frankly, I haven't needed You know? I'll also say kind of, you know, the other side of this is weird.

We're pleasantly surprised. The propane tank that, you know, also comes with our configuration. We use that. It's more efficient to use propane for heat. Yep. Mhmm. Heating the water tank and stuff like that. And, man, I'll tell you what, that lasted far longer than I expected. So I have no regrets. I'm sure for some people, the generator I mean, listen, there's a cost difference. Right? Mhmm. You know? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Maybe it gets I think it's maybe, what, $20 or something like that.

Yeah. Alright. Yeah. Hopefully, that's gonna close down, but we've been very pleased with it. And, even, even the electronics that come with the, the lithiumics, there is a, an app, you know, that also you can see from your phone, the history, and runs, and things are fun. So, and again, I'm sure others have had some issues, but we have not. Yeah. Absolutely. I'm the brown. Shout out to him. He says, looks like Hank has worn that headset cable out. Yes. Man, you guys you guys could see details.

Yes. I do need to buy another headset cable. You are right, sir. Carla Daniels says, can you put a child bunk bed in RV B Plus Four Transit with the wet, bath in the back. Put a Shaw bug bed, and the bait's left foot. I'll tell you what we did. Mhmm. We do not have the your bath, okay? But we did take our seven year old grandson on one trip. And with any of the Ford vehicles, both of those front seats turn. You can turn them and have them face one another.

Mhmm. And we just traveled with a a a board, that was on the shelf behind our bed and a cushion, like a cushion off of a lawn furniture thing. And that front cabin was our grand son's bed. Okay? Okay. Yeah. And it worked worked wonders for us to be able to have a third person bed. I don't know if you could do something else, Hank. So did was that Loom, or was that just something that you guys made up that bed? Do you? Yeah. So the chairs, of course, turn. Right?

They turn swive all the way, or you can have them face one another. But all that we did on our back shelf behind our, our seabed, right? We just had a board that we used as almost like a mattress spring. And an extra, like, a, a long cushion that you could pick up at a home and garden store. Mhmm. And we place those on the two front seat Okay. Okay. Understood. Yeah. Okay. I so I I'm aware of of, people doing mods like that.

There's also a company, I think, called Loom that that we've seen at the Overlanding shows that has a similar fix to that. That's kind of like a blow up kind of that sit that you blow it up, and it fits fits between those 2. Yeah. That's that's right. We we and we looked at that. Of course, it was several $100. Yeah. Mhmm. And it it fits in the middle, and it's a cushion. It's almost like a tee. It fits in there. But anyway, what we did, and then, you know, it wasn't permanent.

And, we don't take that with us on every trip, of course, but for that trip, it worked. Yeah. And I'm not exactly sure because I think in that comment, you said b plus, so I'm not exactly sure which you're talking about. So, like, our vans that we have to be on is just a bee. It doesn't, rise to the B plus Acacia quite. So I think it would be different, but if you if you wanna hit hit us up, like do a DM or something that. I could maybe take a closer look and help you out with that.

On the Brown also said he's a comedian. He says, I'm not sure I wanna see a video Hank taking bunchback. Yeah, I don't wanna see I don't wanna see it. And look, says, don't worry. What is the what did she say? Don't worry. The sponge bath video will be tasteful. Okay. And maybe the reason I sell it. I don't know. Oh, good one. Good one. Alright. Let's see. Here. Okay. Alright. Let's see what, okay. Carlos Daniel says, hey, guys. I need to know when your next is my son will attend.

So I believe that question's pointed at Sunshine State RV. Typically, they're at the Tampa show, and then they do Ocala, but they are going to the there's a whole bunch of different shows they have on right now. So I would suggest checking out Sunshine State RVs, website. So I do Lola and I do stuff with them, but, you know, if you check out their website, you'll see what the schedule is. I know they're going to Overland East in Virginia, and that's coming up, I think, in October.

So, either the end of I think it's maybe end of September, you know, early October, some thing like that that they'll be there, but there's a boat show going on that they're going to. Another show that's coming up in Texas, and those I don't have, you know, precise stuff on. Russ says, Hank, you did a great job showing the difference between the Beyond Nova and the Galleria. Thank you. I think that's been a couple of years now.

We probably need to redo that video because we've got, you know, we've got, like, a new Sprinter is out there and a new, a new, ProMaster is out there as well. So I'm sure people would be interested in that. I don't know if you're interested. Are you still looking, or, you know, are you just happy with your van, and you've got other interests, or you always looking to see what's coming up next kind of a thing? No. Less less than I did before, for sure.

But you it's it's it's almost like, I don't know. It's, again, I'll equate it to cars. I mean, you kind of like to know the newest thing that's out there. I, I find it entertaining. It's certainly informing.

But, you know, I so I'll still watch many of those videos, but now what I've found is I'm I'm looking more for, hey, where are places that people have gone, what are some of those camping RV lifestyle hacks and and stuff like that, or, you know, getting my vehicle serviced it, it just depends where you are on the continuum.

But I think once you kind of get hooked and, and look at those things, at least me, I'm I'll always be looking at what's the next feature, the next bell and whistle that kind of thing. Yeah. I think something I'd like to ask you before there's two questions. One Lola wants to ask you before we wrap up, but for me, in this vein, you know, when you're looking at this stuff, what would you like to see in the future, Rob, as an owner? I'm I'm very curious is to know.

Like, I know what I wanna see, but I'm curious to know what the other folks like yourself out there want to see in the future with these vans. Oh, boy. That's an interesting question. You know, probably some additional modifications that give space. I actually intrigued by some of the smaller builders that come up with just these incredible minds. Okay. So, you know, I'd like to continue to see these folks.

Maybe, like, so for example, today, people like Coachmen and Winnebago, they might have 3 or 4 standard designs. I'd like to see them offer for mass customization, you know, we can tweak these things. Certainly interested in the hybrid, the electric stuff. I, I don't know. I, I have yet to watch you one of your this video, but I still have a feeling that's a ways out. You know, I'm not looking for that so much. And then, the only other thing is, more redundancy out there.

Russ Johnson's one of them who, these are tinkerers, can fix any Russ can fix anything. I think some of the future models, they're gonna have to reconsider you know, the people that are buying the next generation and stuff, they're they're looking for you in simpler solutions than maybe what's out there today and maybe some more redundancy. Yeah. I agree with And I think you are gonna find, you know, that the builders out there also simplifying.

Because I think they see a lot of the complaints that people have about those things and making it tougher. You know, you want it to work. I think they're very what we have now is very close to perfection. You were talking about electric. I think it's cool, but I think electric's just something we're getting forced into because the manufacturers have a mandate to make electric things.

So that's really not that far away, believe it or not, but it's kind of a thing that we're getting forced into, and I don't think they can with those laws, folks like us who are traveling around. So in terms of range and stuff like that, it's not there. So, a lot of the other things are, but that's that's, I think that's good, you know, interesting to think about space. How can you maximize on space in something like this. Joy B says I'll get this comment in, we need the price to go down.

We need to not cause a, a house or 2 houses, 2 small houses. So the price needs to come down yeah, you know, I think that is the tough part about a class b. Right? Very expensive. We're looking at house money. You can literally get a really big RV for the same thing, there's the trade off on the convenience that you have over the big R RV. But prices, what do you think about those? Do you think coming down? Yeah. I I hope they do. I think they need to.

I will say the flip of that is they've they do tend to hold their value, you know, and that's the only that's the only thing to kind of softens the blow a little bit. But, you know, I think, you know, it's on one hand, I'm saying, Hey, I'd like have more model choices and stuff. I know what a lot of these folks are suffering right now. They're still feeling the effects of supply chain hiccups and Yep.

You know, before they add a new modifications, they, they're gonna make sure that these things are available. And as many advances they build, they pale in comparison to some of the other suppliers that make automobiles and stuff like that. But, I, yeah, I would like to see some more price elasticity, some more sensitivity, maybe maybe something for more of an entry level users.

And I I won't give a shout out to Winnebago, because I think some of their vans like the Solis That's what I think they're intending to try to do with the solace of maybe your young family, you have 2, 3 small children. When you put them up top, they can camp up top. Yeah. In a talk to. Mhmm. Yeah. I'd like to see more consideration given to people who are not, you know, old folks like us.

There are different life stage and, you know, that, that could maybe get into this, at an earlier lower price point. Yeah. I agree with that. And I you know, even there's there's people coming in younger and and and people, you know, I'm I'm like 51. So you know, there's there's folks getting more active in this or even older folks that are more active, and I think there needs to be better choices. Because on the overlanding side, it's even more expensive, believe it or not.

If you're getting a overlanding van, because you wanna go off road a a bit and do that kind of stuff. In a lot of cases, you're looking at, like, you know, very close to 300,000, if not over that. Yeah. And and, of course, they're going after younger demographics. So maybe they need to offer, like, a, like, you know, what Home Depot does, the workshop, where you kinda come and build your own and swim the hammer. Right. I don't know. Thank you.

You listen, you know, on on unfortunately, we're, we're gonna go into we're gonna kinda, like, go into this downturn in the economy. And and, listen, I don't think anyone's gonna be happy about that, but wanna things, I Hank, that will come out of that. We'll see the high demand come down and maybe the prices come down and more options, out there. Seen kits as well if you want to, you know, just buy and these vans are expensive before they're built into class bs.

So you're looking at, 60 70,000 bucks for these vans, in a lot of cases, just as raw vans, but you can get kits and then build build something maybe not as complicated as what you and I Hank. You can build that. And then if you ever wanted to sell it, you could take those kits out. That kind of thing. Yeah. And and, you know, I tell people, don't be worried or afraid of a used one. I mean, these are commercial vehicles.

So they're built to last a little longer be more durable than the cars we drive. And in if you have a good dealer, like a Sunshine Strange nearby, have them check it out. But because there's a lot of people that will do this for a few years, and they're done for a variety of reasons. So don't be afraid to maybe consider something that has a few miles on it. Yeah. Absolutely. And the last question here, I know we're past our time here, so thanks to everyone. Just hanging out with us.

Smash those up.

So I'm gonna wrap it up after this. Lola says what prep considerations has Rob done, to head out to Nova Scotia? You guys are gonna on a great adventure. So and and people could follow you on your YouTube channel and see all of this. What kind of preps have you made? Yes. Oh my gosh. So Amy is my navigate she's done all the route planning. I will just say this if you've been following anything about Nova Scotia lately.

These poor folks have been burdened by first the fires and then record flooding. They had 3 months' worth of rain in 1 night. We've had to completely replan our route, you know, to to almost the reverse because we had a few fixed dates where we were taking a ferry or we committed to, a boondocker's welcome place, something like that, or a camp site, I mean. But at any rate, we've had to do that. We are traveling with another couple, another Beyond family. So we have, we have 2 of us.

We just so happen have 2 different cell phone providers. And we've talked about like, okay, you know, what kind of tool kit do you bring? What do we bring? We're making sure our maps are up today all the normal stuff that you would do. But, you know, we normally put a lot of time and effort upfront so we can really rely ax and free wheel it while we're on our trip. So fingers crossed. You can, follow us on our channel and, you know, hopefully we'll avoid the 5 and the floods. Yeah. Absolutely.

I hope you do. I I'm sure you guys will have a great adventure out there. One quick question I'm sneaking in for him to Brown, because this is actually a question. He says, do either you see people towing small travel trailers to add more space or Strange. What do you think about that, Rob? I Hank, it it's been, only on occasion. And, I mean, in the end of the the Beyond absolutely can. Okay. And it's e it's equipped to to do it.

You know, if I, if I, if I, you know, say the weight ratings and stuff like that, I'm sure I'll get it wrong. Yeah. I think it's about 5000, but they'll take my word on that either. I think so. Yeah. And, but, you know, I've also seen people rather than tow something, what they'll do is hit they'll have a stowaway box or something like that on the back. Mhmm. There's a a lot of creative solutions.

But, you know, you know, it's harder to park, of course, like that, but it's absolutely something we've seen. We we've actually seen somebody tow a bladder plane. Wow. Yes. A flatter plane. Yeah. At some point, you guys will see a picture of me towing, my tractor. I had to get a tractor. We we, you know, we've got about 6 acres here, and I've gotta take care of it myself. And we got we got a tractor, and I'm gonna have to tow that So the van is gonna be put to that purpose.

But my my advice on that one is I would say, let's carry less stuff if you can. If you could do it, take less stuff. The, you know, the adventure is not all the stuff that you could bring with you necessarily, even though you wanna bring things that you need. So, you know, that's, like, Wayne C says, if you could tow small trailers or for more space, you might as well buy a bigger motor home. So there you go. Listen. Rob, I hope you're gonna come back because this was a fun conversation.

It went very quickly. Please do come back, and I would encourage everyone out there to subscribe to Beyond the Adventure. Lola and I subscribe to it. There's some very good content on here. But I'll give you a chance to plug that and the other things you have before we get out, Rob. Oh, that's enough of a plug. I just wanna say, hey, you know, thanks to you and Lola for everything that you guys do. To do it, and we really appreciate it.

And for everybody watching, thanks for tuning in, and happy, happy travels to you.

Thank you. Thank you so much for the support, Rob. We can do it without folks like yourself and Amy. Alright, guys. We are out of here. We love and appreciate you guys. We'll see on the next one. Thanks so much for joining us. We're out of here. Robbie stay right there. See you guys. Peace.